2 From 1 : G.L.O.S.S.

In this post we revisit and celebrate the two classic releases of G.L.O.S.S. (Girls Living Outside Society's Shit), a short lived Hardcore band that managed to express their opposition against any kind of minority repression in the most true and vocal way…

G.L.O.S.S. (Girls Living Outside Society's Shit) formed in 2014 after vocalist Sadie “Switchblade” Smith (vocals) and guitarist Jake Bison (guitar) moved from Boston, Massachusetts to Olympia, Washington. The line up consisted of Corey Evans (drums), Sadie “Switchblade” Smith (vocals), Jake Bison (guitar), Tannrr Hainsworth (guitar), and Julaya Antolin (bass). Smith a trans woman herself felt that the hardcore scene of that time did not adequately express the problems and the opinions of the minorities and especially of socially marginalised people like her. Yet she had no desire of being apologetic to anyone or remain just accepted thus chose to maintain a more activist stance. In an interview with the feminist website Bust (Bust.com), Smith mentioned :

We (G.L.O.S.S.) are a hardcore band interested in inciting violence, and we wanted to have a name that emphasised our unwillingness to acquiesce to social expectations. But I’m currently more interested in being part of a social movement than I really am in playing hardcore music, so I think for me the excitement of the band is that it feels dangerous, and it feels threatening to the establishment.

This militant and non-apologetic stance was very well captured in the 5 tracks of their debut demo cassette. The 8 minutes of ferocious hardcore that was included in this cassette, was an open call to war to all the queer and transexual people in the hardcore scene.

We're from the future, not from the pastWe live our own way, not up history's assWon't reenact, won't perform their hardcoreThe straight-boy cannon is a royal boreThe future, faggots and femmesThe future, not just any outcasts

(G.L.O.S.S. We’re from the Future)

Masculinity was the artifice, rip it awayFemininity, always the heart of usTrans girls be free

(Masculine Artifice)

This is for the outcasts, rejects, girls and the queersFor the downtrodden women who have shed their last tearsFighters, psychos, freaks, and the femmesFor all the transgender ladies in constant transition, cast out!

(Outcast Stomp)

They told us to die, we chose to liveThey told us to die, we chose to liveStraight america, you won't ruin me

(Lined Lips and Spiked Bats)

Did I say you could look at me?Did I say you could talk to me?You really think we'd be friends?Shut your fucking mouth and hang your headI don't remember inviting your wordsI don't remember inviting your gazeI'd never asked your opinion of shitMy body, my rules, get on with it

(Targets of Men)

And if the first Demo was more personal triggered, self centred and contained lyrics focused on Smith’s sexuality, the second EP Trans Day of Revenge had a more broader lyrical content trying to be more open and inclusive in its message.

I want it to be a reminder that marginalised people are worthwhile and worthy of everything, and don’t need to hurt themselves and don’t need to give up, and don’t need to give into all the bull shit around them. I want it to be a record that feels healing and cathartic to listen to for people who have been harmed by institutionalised oppression.

Containing (again) 5 songs (played this time in less than 7 minutes) and being released in the wake of the Orlando shooting at Pulse Night Club (in which 49 gay and queer people, most Latin and people of colour, were murdered), Trans Day of Revenge was even more angry and savage.

I would say the anger in it is directed at the police, politicians, men, people who intentionally harm other people. I think it’s also directed at queer and trans people, marginalized people and even people who have been marginalized by the LGBT community. It’s really supposed to just be for trans people and queer people for the most part, and it’s fine if other people take things from it, but the amount of attention and commentary it gets from cis people is a little bit baffling. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter to me what these critics or do-gooders think about this band because it’s not about them.

With song titles like Give Violence a Chance and Fight which left no room for doubt or ambiguity and lyrics such as :

When peace is just another word for deathIt's our turn to give violence a chance

(Give Violence a Chance)

I saw her faceBruises and scarsSecondhand traumaTears me apartBoot the fuckerBattery and abuseWill be met with total violence

Black trans womenDraped in white sheetsBeaten to deathHarassed by policeHomeless eldersWander the streetsTrans day of revengeNot as weak as we seem

(Trans Day of Revenge)

G.L.O.S.S. took a clear, non/pacifist stance against issues like police brutality, discrimination, fascism and domestic violence.

The EP contained the song We Live which being inspired by Smith’s personal experiences was a heartbreaking and agonising expression on behalf of all the kids who were sexually abused inside their families. It takes 1:15 minutes and 4 verses to painfully describe the emotional and guilty burden that every kid who was sexually mistreated by a relative, carries :

We live!We liveEven as we wonder whyWe liveWith trauma locked insideWe fightAgainst the urge to dieParched for love and cast asideChildhood shame, internal blameIncest bore a complex painWe live and die against the grainFor ourselvesWe liveWe liveFor nights like thisBasements packed with burning kidsWe scream, just to make sense of thingsStuds and leather, survivors' wingsChildhood shame, internal blameIncest bore a complex painWe live and die against the grainFor ourselvesWe liveWith pride

Trans Day of Revenge, will forever stand a classic manifesto for queer and transgender people and generally for every individual abused and discriminated due to his/hers sexuality. It remains a militant and non apologetic statement that these people are not any more to be considered neither weak or easy targets.

Immediately after the release of the EP, Epitaph records offered G.L.O.S.S. a 50.000 USD contract in order to sign them, which they initially accepted seeing it as an opportunity to give an amount of this money to causes like Black Lives Matter. Soon though they decided to reject it due to Epitaph’s affiliation to Warner Bros, a decision which created some internal distress among the band members which in combination with the pressure generated from the ongoing publicity that they have started to receive, forced them during an interview with Maximum Rock and Roll magazine to announce their break up. Both band releases remain available in their Bandcamp page as “Name your price” downloads, with all the profits being donated to noble causes.